DC Girl

Hi October Bandsters! It has been forever since I posted on here ... I'm mostly just a lurker. And, things with the Band has been progressing more or less okay until the last few weeks when I noticed that gobs of my hair were falling out. I wrongly assumed that at 4 months out I had escaped the dreaded hair loss until I read other posts on this site where a lot of folks notice thier hair is falling out at month 4. I've always had really thick, curly hair, and I've never had problems with hair loss in the past, even when I have had dramatic weight loss. But, here I am ... freaking out that if it continues at this rate, I'll be bald by months end. So, I was just wondering if any other October Bandsters are now having this problem? And, if so, what are you doing about it?

The breastbone is the bone in the middle of your chest that connects your ribs. And, my port is just below that, so kind of dead center. It's just low enough so that my bra doesn't touch it. Of course, I'm only a month out of surgery, so I have no idea what it will look like when I actually lose the weight.

Mine is smack in the middle -- right under the breastbone. I'm a stomach sleeper. The first week after surgery, it hurt too much to sleep on my stomach, so I slept on my back. But, after that, it's been stomach sleeping all they way.

I just got my first fill today -- 4 weeks and 1 day out from surgery -- and thought I'd give an update. I wasn't sure if my doc would even do the fill today, but after I told him how ravenous I've been in the past week, he said he thought it was time for an adjustment. Anyway, apparently there was already 3cc's in my band (who knew??). The doctor added another 1.5cc for a total of 4.5cc's. I'm back on liquids for today, mushies tomorrow, and then back to solids on Friday. From reading a lot on here, I don't think that my first fill is going to magically do the trick, but I am hopeful that it will take some of the edge off of the hunger I've been feeling for the past week.

Hi Ronda, I had my surgery on 10/13 and am on my two-weeks of full liquid. (I can't wait to move onto mushies on Wednesday!) I know every doctor is different, but according to my doctor, full liquid is: clear liquids (water, broth, sf jello, sf popcicles, Crystal Light) ff/sf puddings (which I usually add flavorless protein powder to) milk, carnation instant breakfast, and protein drinks 100% fruit juice low-fat, strained cream soups Once I move onto mushies I'm supposed to be allowed things like low-fat, pureed meats (like chicken or turkey), mashed potatoes, peas, other pureed vegetables, and thinned cream of wheat. Also, my doctor does a post-op appointment at 7-10 days after surgery. However, due to scheduling issues (both mine and the docs) I don't have my first post-op appointment until tomorrow morning (14 days after surgery). Hope this is somewhat helpful.

I think you should be fine with the pills. My doc prescribed Lortab liquid for me, but it didn't do anything to help my pain. So, instead I took some percocets I had left over from a knee surgery several months ago. My doc said it was fine as long as I cut them in half and took it as two halves instead of a whole pill.

LOL! Well, ask me again in a week when I've actually been on a few days of broth. I'm sure I'll be sick of it too!

Sandielaw -- I feel the same way. I'm on day 4 of my 7-day pre-op diet, and I'm actually looking forward to broth! Anything else seems like it has got to be better than being limited to only Slim Fast for 7 days.

Count me as another October Bandster! My surgery is scheduled for Monday, Oct 13th, and I can't wait for the day to get here ... mostly because this pre-op liquid diet sucks! Honestly, I'm looking forward to the variety of broth, sf jello, sf/ff pudding, skim milk, etc. Anything other than Slimfast will be great!